Kensington Swan's view on aspects of the construction industry

Menu

Monthly Archives: March 2014

10 years ago in the landmark case Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust the UK Court of Appeal first addressed the role the court should have in encouraging parties to settle their disputes otherwise than by trial. This judgment included laying down the principle that the court has the power to deprive a successful…

The requirement to carry out work with ‘due diligence’ is often the subject of disputes. A recent case in the UK, Sabic UK Petrochemicals Ltd v Punj Lloyd Ltd [2013] EWHC 2916 (TCC), has examined what it actually means to complete a work with due diligence. The claimant, Sabic contracted with a subsidiary of Punj…

According to Statistics New Zealand, less than 12 per cent of the construction industry is female. This includes engineering, building, architecture, project management and construction law. Female students at the University of Canterbury engineering school still only make up 20% of the enrolments. The construction industry is facing a significant skills and labour shortage as…

Leading recruitment agency Robert Walters has released its annual global salary survey that predicts construction workers in New Zealand are the most likely to receive a pay rise in 2014. Read the full report here. Reasons for the predicted increases in salary in the construction industry are reported to be due to the Christchurch rebuild,…

The impact of red-zone cordons and poor access to the central city has seen a number of Christchurch businesses move out into the suburbs. As businesses have set up base over the past few years this has caused a problem for landlords in the CBD, as well as those in residential areas. The established business…

NZS 3910:2013 was released in November 2013 and updates the 2003 version of the most widely-used construction contract in New Zealand. One area of significant change is the contractor’s bond. In NZS 3910:2003, the contractor’s bond was a performance bond. To call up the bond, it was necessary to demonstrate that one or more of…

While it is well-known that significant changes to New Zealand health and safety law are on the horizon, harder to determine is precisely how the changes will translate into practice in the construction industry. Take a look at Safe Work Australia’s model Code of Practice for construction work which, according to Safe Work Australia, has…

Last week Air New Zealand announced plans to increase the number of domestic flights into Christchurch by 6% over the coming year. It is also working towards a 5% increase in the trans-Tasman flights run out of Christchurch with its partner Virgin Australia. The increase in demand for flights shows that both residential and commercial…

Forestry giant Carter Holt Harvey agreed to pay $1.85 million in penalties for price-fixing in the Auckland timber market when appearing in the Auckland High Court yesterday. Read the article here. This is surprising for two reasons in particular. First, New Zealand is widely considered as an easy place to do business and not to…

Waikato University has announced that Fletcher Construction has won the $20 million-plus contract to build a new building for its Law and Management faculties. The building has been designed by Opus International Consultants, and planned with an emphasis on space and energy efficiency; the new building will have a ‘living lawn’ roof, natural ventilation, and…